When Claude Devereux’s brother, Patrick, is killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, he’s devastated. But there is little time for grief. Devereux, a Confederate spy, has worked his way behind enemy lines in the North to become a prominent adviser to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

If General Robert Lee and his comrades in the South have any chance of succeeding in beating the Union, Devereux knows that he must keep his cover at all costs. So he steers clear of danger even when he doesn’t want to do so.

One of Devereux’s main tasks is to find out more about General Ulysses Grant, who has come to Washington to assume command of the Union army. The general is about to lead his troops on the Overland Campaign, a series of battles through the heart of Virginia.

Devereux must do all that he can to stop Grant in his tracks and help the South win its independence in Death Piled Hard.